Analysis of the Effect of Cooperatives on Increasing Farmers’ Income from the Perspective of Industry Prosperity Based on the PSM Empirical Study in Shennongjia Region

Abstract

“Industry prosperity”, as a key content of the Rural Revitalization Strategy, is an effective way to increase farmers’ income, agricultural development and rural prosperity. Cooperatives have the functions of serving, assisting and enriching the people and are an important organizational carrier for achieving rural industry prosperity. This paper uses the propensity score-matching model and the field survey data of Dajiuhu Town, Shennongjia, Hubei Province to study the effect of farmers’ participation in cooperatives on their net income by means of quantitative analysis. The empirical results show that (1) farmers’ participation in cooperatives can improve their net income level; (2) the education level of farmers has a significant effect on their participation in cooperatives; (3) household factors, production and management characteristics and external environment also have an important effect on farmers’ participation. Based on the above conclusions, this research proposes the encouragement of farmers to actively participate in cooperatives, improve their education level, vigorously improve rural infrastructure and enhance farmers’ self-development efficiency to promote the continuous increase of farmers’ incomes, and give rise to the positive role of cooperatives in rural development, in order to realize the revitalization and sustainable development of rural areas.